Life after The Now Show...

The best of the week's live comedy

The best of the week's live comedy, picked from the thousands of events Chortle currently has listed. Use our search panel to check our full listings by date and region.

Monday April 29

MILTON KEYNES: Following the end of their Now Show on Radio 4 after 25 years, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis embark on a nationwide tour, their first in more than a decade. Entitled We Are Not A Robot, the show promises 'a medley of classic sketches, improvisation and new material', and runs through to the end of June. Punt & Dennis tour dates.

LONDON: Marie Faustin is a US comic and actress with credits including Broad City. In her native New York she hosts a live dating show Why Are You Single?, which aims to find out what's wrong with those looking for love. Dating is also one of the strands of her new stand-up show, Sorry I'm Late, which hits Soho Theatre for the week.

Wednesday May 1

FOLKESTONE: He's never not touring, it seems, and today Jimmy Carr unveils his new batch of jokes, sure to ruffle some sensibilities, at the Leas Cliff Hall. The Laughs Funny tour – which stretches through to the end of next year – is a mix of intimate theatre dates, with the comic performing twice in an evening, once at 7pm and again at 9:30pm, running 90 minutes with no interval, and two-hour-plus arena shows including an interval and special guests. Jimmy Carr tour dates .

MANCHESTER: Welsh stand-up Morgan Rees begins his first tour, Turning Thirsty, at the Frog and Bucket. In it, the former BBC New Comedy Award finalist celebrates his experimental 20s, including a cringe-inducing mishap on a nudist beach, before vowing to live his next decade authentically as a proud bisexual man. Morgan Rees tour dates

LONDON: The Bloomsbury Theatre hosts a Laugh Till It Hurts fundraiser tonight featuring the starry line-up of Arthur Smith, Nick Helm, Rhys James, Simon Evans, Sindhu Vee and Mark Dolan. Tickets are available here.

Thursday May 2

GLASGOW: Laura Belbin is the comedian behind the successful Knee Deep In Life social media accounts (500,000+ followers on Instagram alone), which were built on her emulating 'picture-perfect' photographs but totally imperfectly, in a similar way to Celeste Barber. At the GleeClub tonight she launches her tour, promising to 'say the things everyone is thinking but probably doesn't dare to say'. 'Her comedy is for those who chase the raw, filthy and honest truth,' adds the blurb. Laura Belgian tour dates

LONDON: It's the first of two semi-finals of this year's Chortle Student Comedy Award at the Bloomsbury Theatre. Come and see MC Sam Nicoresti introduce the next wave of stand-up talent. Those who get through tonight get to play the Latitude festival in July, as well as landing a slot in the final at the Edinburgh Fringe. Tonight's finalists are Alex Lee, Dylan Clarke, Evan Hall, Fran Best, Jack Simmonds, Jade Kelly, Lorcan Jeffreys, Leo Hincks, Mohaiman, Oliver Moore and Rosie Brown. Tickets.

LONDON: A fine bill at the Hoxton Hall tonight features the myriad talents of Catherine Bohart, Flo and Joan, Jen Brister, Katie Green, Sophie Duker and Tatty Macleod.

AMERSHAM: A pop-up comedy venue outside the Poppers Arms features headliner Seann Walsh tonight (sold out), Jeff Innocent tomorrow (Tickets).

Friday May 3

MACHYNLLETH: The town's no-longer-quite-so-boutique-as-it-once-was comedy festival returns for its 12th edition. Passing through are the likes of Bridget Christie, James Acaster, John Kearns, Mark Watson and Miles Jupp – among many more. Website

BRIGHTON: The city's annual month-long Fringe festival kicks off, with more than 550 events due to be staged in theatres, pubs and unusual spaces. Comedy highlights tonight include Ted Hill and Tadiwa Mahlunge at the Caxton Arms, and Father John – a Catholic priest character created by John O'Sullivan and Vaun Earl Norman, as seen on the last revival of Vic and Bob's Big Night Out, which will be running at the Hare and Hounds every night. Website

Saturday May 4

NOTTINGHAM: The Just The Tonic shows at the Metronome tonight feature pun king Gary Delaney and the hilariously intense Dan Tiernan.

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Published: 28 Apr 2024